Force carbonation, too much foam

[Jhonntan Gonzalez]

Hello everyone,

I have a 5gal keg, I brewed a Belgian blond ale and it was my first time doing force carbonation, I needed ready in a couple of days so I decided to go with the agitation method, I basically put the keg in the fridge for 24 hours and then connected to gas at 30psi while I shacked the keg for almost 3 minutes. After that, I let the keg to rest for almost one hour and tried then serving at 10 psi, the thing is, the only thing that came out of the keg was foam and beer was tasting as CO2. I decided to give it a second try and a purged the keg for a couple of days until the beer was flat, yesterday I applied the same strategy but shacked just for 2 minutes, beer came out almost flat but still 80% foam.

I was wondering if it is probably a problem with my gas/beer connections or my beer is just over carbonated, do you guys can point me to any resource I can read/watch so I can start learning about force carbonation?

Note: I do not have a fridge that can be used to store beer only that's why I am trying to carbonate the beer as fast as possible so maybe I can store the kegs at room temp.

 

[IslandLizard]

After force/burst carbonating a keg by shaking/rolling it needs to sit at 10-12 psi (whatever your serving pressure is) for at least a day at serving temps to reduce foaming upon serving. It gets better over the next 2-3 days.

Note: I do not have a fridge that can be used to store beer only that's why I am trying to carbonate the beer as fast as possible so maybe I can store the kegs at room temp.

That explains your foaming issue. Beer needs to be kept cold to serve at that pressure.

https://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table/

And to calculate your line length for given parameters:
http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

 

[Vale71]

Ever tried shaking up a can of commercial beer and then pulling the tab? You're basically doing the same thing but with a bigger can, I don't see why you would expect different results.

I'll let you in on a little secret: you can carbonate at room temp and it will carbonate even faster than at serving temp. You just need to set the appropriate pressure for the temperature according to the usual carbonation charts and that's it.

 

[Jhonntan Gonzalez]

Ever tried shaking up a can of commercial beer and then pulling the tab? You're basically doing the same thing but with a bigger can, I don't see why you would expect different results.

I'll let you in on a little secret: you can carbonate at room temp and it will carbonate even faster than at serving temp. You just need to set the appropriate pressure for the temperature according to the usual carbonation charts and that's it.

You are right, first time trying I just saw a couple of youtube videos in which they said after 30 minutes or one night beer could be served, I'll try to do the carbonation at room temp

 

[IslandLizard]

do you guys can point me to any resource I can read/watch so I can start learning about force carbonation?

Here's one that discusses various methods of carbonation.
http://brulosophy.com/methods/carbonation-methods/

 

[Jhonntan Gonzalez]

After force/burst carbonating a keg by shaking/rolling it needs to sit at 10-12 psi (whatever your serving pressure is) for at least a day at serving temps to reduce foaming upon serving. It gets better over the next 2-3 days.

That explains your foaming issue. Beer needs to be kept cold to serve at that pressure.

https://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table/

And to calculate your line length for given parameters:
http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

Thanks for all the information! I am indeed keeping the beer in my fridge and then just taking it out to serve some tests to see how it is doing however I do not have a kegerator for the beer

 

[IslandLizard]

You are right, first time trying I just saw a couple of youtube videos in which they said after 30 minutes or one night beer could be served, I'll try to do the carbonation at room temp

It's all about balancing the system.

At higher serving temps, and thus needed higher serving pressures, you'll need thin and/or long lines to give you the needed back pressure to prevent CO2 from coming [EDIT] out of solution in the line or at the tap. That's the foaming you experience.
To keep line length reasonable use thin bore lines, like 1/8" ID.

 

[Vale71]

You are right, first time trying I just saw a couple of youtube videos in which they said after 30 minutes or one night beer could be served, I'll try to do the carbonation at room temp

There's quite a large gap between 30 minutes and one night. I'd really like to see those people actually serving the beer instead of just talking about it. Maybe if all they did was slightly increase carbonation then it could work after only a 30 minute rest, but in that case you'd have no foam but also grossly undercarbed beer...

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks for all the information! I am indeed keeping the beer in my fridge and then just taking it out to serve some tests to see how it is doing however I do not have a kegerator for the beer

As long as the keg remains cold, you can serve outside the fridge. Stick the keg in a bucket or tub with ice. Now when when the beer goes into the (unchilled) line, it starts to warm up, and will cause foaming due to CO2 coming out of solution, until the beer flowing through has chilled the line down adequately. If you keep pouring from that point on, there will be little foaming.

How long is your serving line? Inside diameter?

 

[Jhonntan Gonzalez]

As long as the keg remains cold, you can serve outside the fridge. Stick the keg in a bucket or tub with ice. Now when when the beer goes into the (unchilled) line, it starts to warm up, and will cause foaming due to CO2 coming out of solution, until the beer flowing through has chilled the line down adequately. If you keep pouring from that point on, there will be little foaming.

How long is your serving line? Inside diameter?

My serving line is 45" and its inside diameter is 0.25". This time I am carbonating at room temp for two weeks, at 27PSI, then I am going to put it on the fridge to reach serving temperature, after that I am going to pull it out to take some samples, to do that should I purge CO from the keg and then add CO2 at serving temp? Should I give it some rest when I plug the CO2 again? Thank you guys for all the help!

I am attaching some pictures of my serving line if this helps.

 

[day_trippr]

Right. And good luck with that.

http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

That ^ again, 3rd time!

 

[stinkypants]

There's quite a large gap between 30 minutes and one night. I'd really like to see those people actually serving the beer instead of just talking about it. Maybe if all they did was slightly increase carbonation then it could work after only a 30 minute rest, but in that case you'd have no foam but also grossly undercarbed beer...

Just to add my experience - I've served after just about an hour using greatly dialed-back adjustable tap. It is no where near perfect - fighting the development of a lot of foam, and yes a bit undercarbed (because of the foaming), but wouldn't call it grossly undercarbed. But that's probably just difference of opinion. Guess I'd call it drinkable but not ideal, and not impressive if you're serving to family & friends.

Much better after about 4 or 5 hours (maybe 90% of ideal), and say about 95% 24 hours later.

This is with everything at serving temps the entire time, btw.